The Environment, Security, Conflict and War in Contemporary Africa: Issues, Challenges and Debates

Abstract

Africa is a continent that is changing quickly. However, many people continue to see it as an odd location encrusted with stories and legends. This paper aims to educate the reader on Africa, with a particular emphasis on the continent's security concerns in the twenty-first century. Making broad generalizations about the 54 African nations is challenging and perhaps risky. Africa includes South Africa, a confirmed member of the BRICS, as well as countries in development and instability. However, all 54 nations are members of the African Union (AU). Most of them are the offspring of the 1884–1885 Berlin Conference, and almost all were conquered by European countries. Africa’s political environment is essentially unchanged from the late 1950s and early 1960s, when most of its nations gained their independence. The nations on the continent have faced many of the same difficulties since the conclusion of the Cold War. The start of the twenty-first century was not good. According to the 2005 Peace and Conflict Report, 31 out of 161 countries, including 17 in Africa—were at risk of a devastating conflict. More U.N. peacekeeping troops are stationed in Africa than any other continent. Around the turn of the century, seven of the fourteen major hostilities in the world took place in Africa. At least thirty-two non-separatist civil wars have erupted in African countries since 1960. It is where most of the world's wars occur. This paper looks at the various links between environmental elements and African security and insecurity issues. After a quick overview of the conceptual shift in security and human security, the forthcoming environmental issues that some people think Africa is facing will be discussed. The focus of this paper then shifts to the various ways that observers have asserted and denied links between conflict and the African environment. The reasons why African fighting has evolved so dramatically in such a short period of time are then covered. The distinctive features of contemporary African warfare are examined in this paper. The relationships between the politics of war zones and the strategies employed by armed group leaders to set their goals, locate friends, and organize and retain their fighters are highlighted by this examination of the social and political elements that shape the character of these conflicts. The paper's most important finding is that patronage politics is becoming increasingly important in explaining change in both the armed groups that oppose the state's authorities and the elite coalitions that control it. This argument serves as the foundation for the next section, which looks more closely at recent and ongoing conflicts to show how patronage politics truly impact warfare in Africa, even though there are many other goals and motivations at the individual, armed group, and community levels. The likelihood of conflict in Africa is examined in the last section. That part investigates whether the existing patterns can be sustained and looks for innovative ways to disrupt them that could signal a more substantial shift.